Brendan Rodgers reveals why he decided to leave Celtic

Celtic fans have been fuming since Brendan Rodgers left the club last February, now he reveals exactly why he made the move.

Brendan Rodgers led Celtic to multiple premiership, league and domestic cup wins and championships. So, it was an incredible surprise when Rodgers abruptly left the Hoops before the end of the season for a job down south.

The English Premier League is one of the holy grails for football players and managers alike. However, Leicester City was a job that was arguably incomparable to the Celtic job.

Therefore, it was quite the surprise that Rodgers left, amid Hoops fans calling it a betrayal. Now, with Leicester City performing well down South, the reasons Rodgers left may not be starting to take shape.

Rodgers has spoken before on his departure, but never like he did when speaking to the Daily Record:

"““I’ve said it many times, it was incredibly difficult.“It was a really tough call from a personal perspective and a professional one because my relationship with everyone at the club was great form the boardroom to the dressing room.“But perhaps now people will have a better understanding of why I made the choice to go when I did.”"

Rodgers clearly enjoyed his time with Celtic, and understands how the fans felt during and after his departure. Now, the manager wants Hoops fans to understand the reason he made the move to the English Premier League, especially since it was to a relatively smaller club in Leicester City.

The former Celtic manager apparently has great respect for the history of the club, but clearly was chasing the money, as well as the opportunity for English glory. Speaking further with the Daily Record, here is what Rodgers had to say:

"“But I felt I had taken it as far as I could in that time. I then had a decision to make about going into a new project at Leicester where there is an ambition there and there are challenges that I would be excited by.“OK, the timing wasn’t ideal for many people but I felt the club was in a really good place, the players’ mentality, everything around the club was healthy.“And I was able to come into Leicester and assess players while they were under pressure because that’s when you can really make judgements. I felt it would give me those last 10 or 11 games of the season to assess what Leicester had and what needed to be done.”"

So, Rodgers used the time at the end of last season to essentially scout and see what Leicester City had to work with coming into the next season (this season). Apparently it has worked out well for the Leicester City manager, as his team now sits in second in the EPL table.

Rodgers is using his success this year as vindication for living Celtic early. Whether or not Hoops fans will agree with him and eventually forgive the former manager is a completely different matter.